Better Boozy Parties … Just Add Foam

WHY YOU SHOULD CARE

You can double your liquor in one gulp.

November 29, 2015

The holiday season approaches, and we’re already thinking about parties with fancy food and yummy drinks. Here’s an idea to amp up your cocktails — and their punch: topping them off with booze-infused foam.

Pixilix is a new alcoholic vodka foam that dresses up cocktails and lets you double your liquor in one gulp. It comes in five different flavors: Cherry Lips, Lime and Lemon, White Chocoholic, Totally Tropical and Berrylicious. Each 200 ml bottle ($16) produces around 1.8 liters of foam — that’s 37 martini-glass toppings, FYI. And it’s 40-proof vodka. A light pump press dispenses the colorful foam straight onto your drink for instant merriment.

The idea for the foamer, which was “inspired by the theater and magic of mixology,” says CEO Tim Staniland, had a curious start: in the health-care industry. Staniland, who has worked in product development for years, was inspired to create Pixilix after developing alcoholic foam for hand sanitizers in hospitals. “It occurred to me we could make vodka foam,” says Staniland, who is based in Lincolnshire, England. After some research, the self-confessed casual drinker discovered that the cocktail-foam toppings available had a very short shelf life as they often used perishable ingredients like egg whites. He also discovered that his target market — 18- to 25-year-old women (18 is the legal drinking age in Britain) in the U.K. drinking scene — tend to be strong imbibers of candy-flavored cocktails. So Staniland created the foam with fruit and sweet flavors. Pixilix was then launched in July 2015. There are no U.S. distributors yet, but it can be shipped internationally via Drinkfinder.

There are other sweet uses for Pixilix beyond complementing cocktails. For example, Staniland suggests using the White Chocoholic foamto top hot chocolate drinks. Currently, the focus is on vodka foam, but he’s looking at expanding into rum in the future — an idea that a Caribbean-holiday company has expressed interest in for their vacation packages.

And while we’re always looking to put more fun into our boozing, it’s important to do so in moderation. Novelty drinks can lead to binge drinking, where people might end up in physical or social danger, warns Dr. George Koob, director of the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism. But Staniland says that Pixilix is not designed to get you drunk; it’s meant to enhance your drinks. You wouldn’t want to drink a whole bottle, he adds: “Because it’s a foam combining liquid with air, it has a potent effect, but not a lasting effect.”

As of now, Pixilix sales can be measured in the tens, not hundreds, of bottles sold. Staniland’s hopeful about growth during the party season. Brings a whole new meaning to the phrase “foaming at the mouth,” right?